Australia and China eye joint farming plan

Related Content

This file photo shows a flock of sheep on a country road in Australia. Australia …

Australia is seeking Chinese investment to develop farming land in its sprawling north in a joint bid to boost food security for the Asian giant's 1.3 billion citizens, according to reports.

The two nations were due to publish a study into the proposal, which would see Chinese companies invest directly in northern farms focused mainly on beef, sheep, sugar and dairy, the Australian Financial Review reported on Thursday.

Canberra and Beijing launched the study last May and its findings were due to be released within weeks, according to the newspaper.

Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson stressed that it would not involve "selling up" valuable national resources, nor "importing overseas labour and dedicating the production to Chinese consumption".

"It is designed to lift Australian food production for world markets," Emerson said from Beijing.

Chinese investment is a sensitive issue in Australia, with telecom Huawei banned for security reasons from bidding on the nation's broadband rollout earlier this year and several mining takeovers failing on similar grounds.

Rural conservative politicians have warned against selling valuable agricultural land to foreign investors, particularly China which is Australia's top trading partner due to bullish resources exports.

A government study into ownership of Australian agriculture published in January found that foreign firms controlled about half of the nation's key food industries but offshore investors owned just 11 percent of its farmland.

The study was commissioned to soothe community concern about foreign ownership of farming and Canberra said at the time that the findings should ease "misinformation and hysteria" about an "invasion" of foreign investors.

Foreign firms account for about half of the nation's wheat, dairy, sugar and red meat sectors, following a flurry of takeovers in recent years, but foreign ownership of land, at 11 percent, is little changed from 30 years ago.

Qatar's Hassad Food and Singapore's Olam International are among firms that have bought up Australian farmland to boost their own national food security.

While Emerson has urged Australians against letting racism creep into the debate, vocal opponent Bill Heffernan, a senator from the right-wing Liberal party, said it was important to be passionate about Australia's future.

"This is not xenophobic, there are clear loopholes in the foreign takeovers act and in the taxation act and this is a decline in the meaning of sovereignty," Heffernan told ABC radio.

Greens Senator Christine Milne said she was "very concerned" by the plan, particularly any involvement by foreign state-owned companies.

"What guarantees can we have that this is going to be in the context of trade as opposed to outsourcing and direct production of other countries' food supplies?" she told reporters.

Editor’s note:Yahoo Philippines encourages responsible comments that add dimension to the discussion. No bashing or hate speech, please. You can express your opinion without slamming others or making derogatory remarks.

Government troops captured Sunday a bomb and weapons factory of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced yesterday. Col. Restituto Padilla, AFP spokesman, said the captured bomb and weapons factory is located inside an area controlled by radical Muslim cleric Ustadz Mohammad Ali Tambako at Barangay Dasikil in Mamasapano. …

Instead of filing an opposition, ombudsman prosecutors filed a manifestation yesterday expressing belief that there is no urgent need for Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. to visit his son at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center. “Based on the clinical abstract issued by the Asian Hospital on patient (Cavite) Vice-governor (Jolo) Revilla, which was submitted by accused Revilla in support of his Urgent Motion, Vice-governor Revilla is in stable condition and has stable vital signs, as of March 1, …

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea and vowed "merciless" retaliation Monday as the US and South Korea kicked off joint military drills denounced by Pyongyang as recklessly confrontational. The annual exercises always trigger a surge in military tensions and warlike rhetoric on the divided peninsula, and analysts saw the North's missile tests as a prelude to a concerted campaign of sabre-rattling. "If there is a particularly sharp escalation, we could see the …

CAIRO (AP) — Three British schoolgirls believed to have gone to Syria to become "jihadi" brides. Three young men charged in New York with plotting to join the Islamic State group and carry out attacks on American soil. A masked, knife-wielding militant from London who is the face of terror in videos showing Western hostages beheaded. …

Filipinos aspiring to work overseas should avoid dealing with a recruitment agency that has duped jobseekers worldwide, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said yesterday. The National Bureau of Investigation has padlocked Global Visas Inc., which is based in Cebu. Baldoz said the agency’s parent company, ICS Global Visas Inc. based in the United Kingdom, has reportedly collapsed and left thousands of applicants without jobs. “Global Visas was in the limelight this week, following its reported …

Colleagues of boxing champion Manny Pacquiao at the House of Representatives backed yesterday a proposal to exempt his earnings from his May 2 fight with American Floyd Mayweather from income tax. Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares has urged Pacquiao to promptly pay taxes on his May 2 earnings, which are projected to reach at least $120 million (more than P5.2 billion). …

MOSCOW (AP) — The 23-year-old Ukrainian model who was with slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov tearfully recounted Monday their last dinner in a chic Red Square restaurant and their walk onto a nearby bridge — but said she did not see the gunman who pulled the trigger. …